Killer Among Us
by mattiesaurus
Summary: A string of gruesome plagues Edo, keeping the Shinsengumi busy. And in the middle of all this Okita has gone missing? Has he become a victim? Or something else.. ? this is a murder mystery story, so there will be some gore, but I'll try to keep the descriptions brief and not too detailed. uvu this story will probably be posted in four parts, but may ended up being longer!


"Tch… This is the fifth one of these disgusting displays in the past three months." Hijikata sighed, lighting a cigarette and turning away from the gruesome scene in the alley. "Oi, Yamazaki, get the body down will you."

Yamazaki made a look of distress at the order. It wasn't that this body was any worse then the others had been. But he hadn't really been thrilled with having to get those ones down either. Why couldn't someone else do it this time? He sighed in resignation and pulled himself up onto the fire escape ladder to climb to the roof. His shoes made a soft squelching noise in the mud around the body and Yamazaki shuddered a little. It wasn't water that had soaked into the dirt. He untied the rope that had been holding up the body and slowly lowered it to the ground. He rejoined Hijikata and Kondo standing over the body.

It was the same as the others. Limbs cut off just above the middle joint, cuts carved into the body in a mock-up of the skeleton. All of that were just inflictions that had happened before the victim's death. They had all had their eyes removed post-mortem as well and then the empty eye sockets would be covered with a piece of black cloth before the body was hung up with a noose in the back of an alley.

Hijikata made and irritated noise and snapped his mobile shut.

"No answer?" Kondo gave him a sidelong glance but didn't turn away from the body.

"Nothing. Where the hell is that bastard?"

"Sougo's been missing for almost a month now. I'm starting to get worried."

"I'm sure he's fine. The kid can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but with this going on…" Kondo waved a hand at the body. "And honestly we could use his help. If anyone could get into the head of whatever sick person did this, he could."

"That's true…" Hijikata dropped his cigarette to the ground and stamped it out. "Shit! What is that idiot thinking going off at a time like this?"

"We can't spare anyone to go looking for him though. I'm sure you're not going to like this suggestion, but maybe we should ask Yorozuya to look for him."

Hijikata sighed and rubbed his temples. He couldn't deny the validity of the suggestion, as much as Kondo was right; he _did_ dislike it. "Fine. You guys finish up here. I'll go see if I can convince that Stupid Perm to actually do some work for once."

He turned from the body and stalked off, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"I hope we don't have another body to clean up today…"

Kondo laughed slightly, "Well they haven't killed each other yet so…"

"Oi… Yorozuya, are you in?" Hijikata knocked and then opened the door without bothering to wait for an invitation.

Gintoki was sitting with his feet on his desk, the new issue of _Jump_ held above his head as he read. He didn't even give Hijikata a glance. "It's rude to just barge into people's houses without being invited in, you know."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I go to a person's house." Hijikata replied dryly and sank down onto one of the sofas.

Neither said anything for a while and when it was clear Hijikata wasn't going to just leave Gin sighed and set the magazine down. He stood up from his desk and moved to sit across from Hijikata on the other sofa.

"Alright, what are you here to accuse me of this time?"

Hijikata made a soft irritated noise and waved his hand in front of his face like he was clearing the air of a bad smell. "Nothing. I'm here because I… well… that is, the Shinsengumi… have a job for you."

"What if I said I'm not interested?"

"What if I said I'm not giving you a choice?"

"Are you really that desperate? What do you even need my help with?"

"Sougo's pulled a disappearing act and hasn't been around for about three weeks. I need you to hunt him down and drag him back to work."

"Missing persons? Aren't you the police? Isn't that _your_ jurisdiction? Why don't you look for him yourself?"

"Tch… I know you're stupid but even you must have noticed that there's currently a serial killer in Edo and we're a little busy with _that_ investigation. With three of the victims being killed in the last five weeks, I'm sure he's just skipping out on work because we're so busy…"

Gin raised an eyebrow as Hijikata trailed off his last sentence. "If I didn't know better I'd say you sound worried."

"Of course I'm not worried!" Hijikata snapped at him, then sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm not worried about him anyways. But I did promise his sister I would take care of him. And even as much as I dislike him, I'm not going to let her down."

Gin frowned a little, Hijikata didn't often let his guard down like that. And he really did look tired. Hijikata looked back up at Gin, who quickly reestablished the guise of disinterest.

"This is an official request from the Shinsengumi, so whatever you want to be paid I'll make sure you get it."

"How can I resist an offer like that?" Gin put on his usual smirk. "And all I need to do is find him and make him go back to work?"

Hijikata stood and headed back to the door. "Yeah. Although I'd consider it a personal favour if you smacked him upside the head for me when you find him."


End file.
